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All Quiet on the Western Front

I just rented this old WWI movie. It was actually really good. I had to read the book you know, in high school I think. It was cast with a good group of characters playing the German soldiers, and it was pretty realistic, though the boot camp stuff was funny.

The film's only available in black and white, as far as I know. The tape I watched even showed 2 previews for old b&w films of the era with it. The stars, especially the guy playing Paul, were I guess the up-and-coming 90210's of that era.

Anyway, there are very few World War One movies out there. At least beyond the sequence in Legends of the Fall, I don't know of any more WWI movies.

I just finally saw one the other day, called "Behind the Lines" I think... it was about a British psychologist who helped war-trauma stress victims, only to repatriate them back into their units, and send them back to the trenches in Europe again.

Anyway, WWI is an interesting era. It's too bad they don't make more films about this time.

I think "All Quiet" could be remade with modern starts (like Josh Hartnett) and that crowd, and they could do a really bang-up job with it.

I think something on the history of what started the war would be good, too. Of course a partriot, I'd like to see a movie about American involvement in the war, myself.

But check out "All Quiet on the Western Front," for a flashback from the past and a good treat I think you'll like in the end. The combat with the French and the soldier that winds up dying in Paul's trench in the graveyard really made an impression. So did the shelling they took when they were in that bunker and had to eat the rats...

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There is another version of this movie starring John-Boy from the Waltons and Ernest Borgnine as the gruff sergeant. It was made in the late 70s to mid-80s (I can't remember when exactly), a virtual remake of the B&W version but doesn't have the same impact as the original.

I read the book, too, in junior high or high school (pre-requiste reading!) and I've thought about reading it again.

AMC showed the B&W version during its Veterans Day movie marathon.

That old guy is Lew Ayre. He was in the pilot episode of Battlestar Galatica, I believe, and played the ape who controlled the weapons/supply hut in Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

There's a good Kirk Douglas WWI movie called Paths of Glory. It's about French soldiers and the consequences of a particular battlefield encounter. It's on DVD; I have it at home. Stanley Kubrick directed it.

I just saw the 1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front. It was actually very good. Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel) was in it as Paul Baumer's proud German father. I didn't recognize him but saw him in the credits and remembered this from the filmography listed for him in the Star Wars Insider. Thing is, he would have done this role right before donning his Imperial uniform and "coming out of lightspeed too close to the system," and then "being as clumsy as he is stupid!" Hehe. If this movie was released in 1979, it must have been filmed in 1977-78, and then Sheard was cast for filming Empire Strikes Back in 1978-9 or so, in time for ESB's 1980 release.

Anyway, I bought Path to Glory, Behind the Line, The Blue Max, and The Last Batallion and am watching all my World War One stuff now. I got really into that era which then gave rise to Indiana Jones a few years later Flyboys is coming and also has me excited.

Man, automobiles were kind of new then I thought - but the war effort really stepped up the use of cars, trucks, and bi-planes. They still used horses and wagons too, with mounted calvary warriors - but they also had tanks! Everything including blimps and submarines were deployed during the first World War.

Anyway, I liked this version of All Quiet as the special effects were pretty good and it was in color, and while the characters were supposed to be Germans, the actors didn't fake poor German accents, they just played their roles (and yeah, did sound like Americans - but it kept you focused on the story versus false ethnicities being represented).

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